Prepare

Care

Share

The first step to every task is to prepare. This applies to any teaching/learning we are doing. It is a teachers responsibility and expectation to prepare themselves to teach a topic, and it is, likewise, the students' jobs to prepare themselves for each standard at hand. 

Camie Walker never expected the opportunity to prepare to affect so many, but over a school year, she saw a lot of fifth and sixth grade students learn and grow. It all began with a lesson on engineering and earthquakes. 

This first step in the process entailed asking questions.After a science lesson on plate techtonics,  Camie's students compared the earthquake in Northridge with that in Haiti.  Similar magnitude, different results.   This led them to study building codes and the engineering it takes to construct a building that can withstand  earthquakes.  All of this initial preparation focused on standards and the Engineering Design Process. Camie knew all  preparation must be connected to curricular content. to  enhance academic learning.

Once the students knew about the devastation and deaths in Haiti, they instantly cared.  They put on the mantle of an engineer.  Their desire was to create buildings that could withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.  To do this it would take a plan, creativity, collaboration and communication.  


Students began by making a plan on how to best create a model building using found materials. The goal was to construct a building that could withstand an earthquake. Their planned, built then tested their models.  100% of the models failed!  This made them only more determined to revise and continue the process.  Camie's scheduling did not have time for weeks of construction.  (She had thought that after the initial building test the activity would be over.) The students had caught the Engineering Excitement. 


During recess, at lunch, and at home ( by choice,) they would ask questions, plan, model, test revise, test, revise, and revise some more.  . Each small step, they were able to track in an engineering journal. This allowed them to draw on past mistakes and develop a model that worked.


Camie's husband  built an  earthquake shake table  so the students could test  their buildings.(Plans are available.  Just email her.)  Through continuous refinement, 100% of students failures were revised until they became successes!  (They even worked on this over Christmas!) 


The students weren't done yet; they now had a strong desire  to help someone actually affected by the earthquake in Haiti. They researched and   were able to connect with a boy in Haiti who was homeless. 


This young man was making and selling bracelets to support his family. The students wanted to help him sell his bracelets at first.  When Camie looked into this, she was told that the logistics of getting the bracelets to the United States was  too costly both in time and money.  Plus this would  add an extra burden onto him.  


The  students knew the Engineering Design Process.  They collaborated and  came up with plan B to “symbolically” sell his bracelets. They made the bracelets  and then sold them at their school site.   Over $1700 was collected and   donated directly to his family through a reputable organization.  This was followed with candy drives at Halloween and stuffed toy collections at Christmas.  The desire to share with others transferred over thousands of miles.  The Engineering bug also persisted.  When students discovered that many died from dysentery, not the quake, they returned to the Engineering Design Process to make a water filters.  Engineers solve problems by preparing, caring and then sharing with others.  The process in a continual cycle of learning.